NEW DELHI: Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh or Assam's latest pop sensation may soon be singing praises for Flipkart. India's largest online retailer is gearing up to launch a large-scale campaign in 20 small cities, marking the beginning of a change in the company's approach in targeting shoppers.

All its past marketing campaigns had a national focus. “We realise that it’s about time we take a regional approach to our marketing,” Ankit Nagori, chief business officer. “A lot of these products are not available in these cities and sometimes they don’t even know these can be bought online.”

According to an internal survey by Flipkart, many consumers in small cities had various reservations about online purchases, including concerns about safety of Internet transactions.

Its campaign will include hoardings and marketing in local languages. “We are hiring local superstars to work with us,” said Nagori. The campaign will go on for two to three months, through the festive season when there is usually a spike in retail sales.

The company’s top leaders will also travel to places like Guwahati, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Jaipur and Surat to talk to consumers, media and sellers. Between 20% and 30% of Flipkart’s demand currently comes from smaller cities and there is potential to grow in these cities, said Nagori. The move marks Flipkart’s increasing ambition in smaller cities, which have relatively lower Internet user base. “There is a lot of latent demand in these cities,” said Nagori.

Moreover, cities like Tirupur, Ludhiana and Panipat have a large number of sellers in categories like home and handloom. Flipkart’s smaller rivals such as Shopclues and Snapdeal also get a significant chunk of their business from small cities. More than 50% of Shopclues’ sales comes from non-metros. “Our thesis has been that the next wave of growth for ecommerce will come from second-and third-tier cities,” said Sanjay Sethi, cofounder and chief executive of Shopclues.

Amazon India said it has been seeing “tremendous” growth in tier-II cities, although it did not disclose specific numbers.

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